How to cook New Zealand mussels for a better taste? How to choose seafood mussels

Mussels are nutritionally balanced, rich in various amino acids, unsaturated fatty acids, inorganic elements and other nutrients necessary for human life activities. They are preferably dry, bright in color and fat. Fresh ingredients combined with the simplest and most advanced methods can make the food cooked to perfection. Here is how to cook New Zealand mussels to make them more delicious. Bring some surprises to your life.

Contents of this article

1. How to cook New Zealand mussels to make them more delicious

2. How to choose seafood mussels

3. Why don’t fried mussels open?

How to cook New Zealand mussels for a better taste

How to make New Zealand clams:

1. Remove the meat of the mussels and leave the shells, cut the green onions into sections, slice the ginger, and cut the onions and celery into shreds.

2. Heat the pan with cold oil, fry the mussel shells until fragrant, then pour in other ingredients and stir-fry until fragrant, just like making fish bone soup. If the fish bones are not colored, the soup will lose its soul. The mussel shells are like fish bones, so it is best to fry them slightly to color them so that the protein can emulsify.

3. Add hot water and bring it to a boil to force out the protein in the shells. Then turn to low heat and simmer for 8 minutes. A pot of sweet shell soup is ready.

4. The perfect ratio of eggs to broth is 1:2. Add a little sea salt. The essence of this Michelin-level recipe is to turn the broth into a tofu-like solid state through egg liquid, while retaining the delicious seafood broth.

5. Pour the egg into a container and cover it with plastic wrap. Just poke a few small holes in it to achieve the effect of heat convection. After steaming for 5 minutes, the egg liquid will be basically solidified. Add the mussel meat and steam for another 2 minutes. The mussel meat will be heated and cooked. The juice of the mussel meat will flow on the surface of the stewed egg.

How to choose seafood mussels

1. Check if the mussels are open. If they are open and remain open even when you try to close them with your hands, they are dead mussels. Such mussels are not fresh.

2. Shake the mussels by hand. If it is empty, the mussels are dead. They are not fresh either.

3. If you touch the mussels with your hands and they close up immediately, then they are alive. Such mussels are fresh and delicious.

Why don't fried mussels open?

If a shell is dead for too long, the protein in the muscle will hydrolyze and the muscle tissue will disintegrate. When heated, the contraction force of the adductor muscle will also decrease, and the shell will naturally not open. Some adductor muscles have even fallen off the shell. Whether the shell is open or not is not an accurate way to distinguish whether it is dead or alive. Both fresh and newly dead shells will open when heated, but you can tell the difference by the taste. Fresh and newly dead shells have some amino acids generated after protein hydrolysis, and amino acids are umami substances. Seafood will have a taste similar to MSG. Also, since the muscle tissue has partially disintegrated, the muscle is not firm and the taste is not crispy, and it feels a bit soft. For living shells, the muscle tissue has not changed at all, and the taste is sweet, without the MSG-like taste, and it is crisp.